Strangers in a Strange Land, Day 6

Day six dawned as sunny as day five had been gloomy. Venturing into the heart of Shanghai again, we utilized a more conventionally American method of conveyance: we piled into Kate’s car and she drove us into town.



With a little bit of patience, we made our way to Yu Yuan Gardens, a shopping mall of sorts for all manner of trinkets.


The shopping areas surround a traditional garden; until recently, everything had been hidden under scaffolding as countless workers refurbished the buildings in preparation for the influx of tourists for the Expo. Now, the buildings are freshly lustrous:


While there, Cheryl, with Kate’s expert help, haggled with storekeepers and came away with silk pajamas for herself and Kelly, a T-shirt for Michael, and some “Oakley” sunglasses, the last for about three dollars. We allowed ourselves to be drawn into the far reaches of the long, densely packed stores, but, again with Kate around to keep the shopkeepers at bay, we managed to escape without buying a bunch of junk… or at least without paying more than we should have for a bunch of junk.

Speaking of junk, we bought some AA batteries there for Kelly’s camera. They may have been labeled Duracell, but like just about everything other product in China bearing a recognizable name, their provenance was highly suspect. The batteries were dead by the end of the afternoon, under nothing more than light usage.

A special treat was a small area where artisans were available to create, on the spot, beautiful personalized drawings or traditional Chinese character stamps. While Kate purchased a couple of the brass stamps for her sons, we commissioned the artist to put together a beautiful drawing of bamboo with a special birthday greetings for Kelly, as it was indeed her 13th birthday. Dad was doing his own explorations of China around the time Cheryl and I were married, and he gave us a Chinese scroll that was personalized with our names and the date of our wedding. It was fun for us to see an echo of that special gift in the art we gave Kelly. The drawing is beautiful, but the opportunity to watch the artist create it was exquisitely deft strokes of his pen makes it a true keepsake.


After our shopping extravaganza, everybody but Kelly and I went home, and Kelly and I headed out for some dad-and-daughter time. With the beautiful weather, we decided it was our opportunity to try to go to the top of the World Financial Center again. In another only-again-Shanghai moment, Kate dumped Kelly and I out almost literally in the middle of a tremendously busy intersection, pausing at the curb after a left turn just long enough for us to leap from the car and hop over a low fence to get into the relative safety of the People’s Park. (I don't fault her for this; it was by far the best way for us to get where we were going, and it fit with the general unruliness of Shanghai traffic.) From there, we fumbled our way to the subway, for one stop to get us under the river.

The newer, Pudong side of the river is quite a contrast from old Shanghai:


Up we went, 474 meters to highest of three observation decks in the World Financial Center, at 492 meters (1614 feet) the third tallest building in the world.


Smog limits the view somewhat, but the vista is impressive. Looking north across the river and the Bund to the older part of Shanghai:


The Pearl Tower:


The Pearl Tower with the Jin Mao Tower in the foreground:


Looking south:


A view through the floor:



Kelly and I had a terrific time looking out at the city, taking dozens of pictures and watching other people do the same thing. The upper observation deck hangs below the large opening in the top of the building. We sampled each of the two lower observation decks, which are progressively wider as the building itself widens. We eventually made our way back down to the street and the subway, as we had to get back home to continue our day.

Successfully navigating the gauntlet of trans and taxis yet again, we returned home to take-out dinner (food in China – not limited to Chinese food – is commonly ordered for delivery) and a birthday celebration for Kelly:


We then departed for our evening activity: an acrobatic dance performance. This required us to go to a part of the city we had not yet been to, so we were a little less confident in our ability to get there. However, the taxi driver took a look at our tickets (which we had purchased the day before at a ticket agency miles from the venue and totally unmarked from the street – many thanks once again to our expert hosts) and grunted his acknowledgement. For once, we found ourselves not in one of the ubiquitous, rattling VW Santanas (a Chinese-made version of the Passat from two generations back) but a nearly brand-new Buick. Luxuriating in the quiet ride and comfy leather seats, we rode in style to the Shanghai Circus World, the circular theater where the performance was to take place. It was perhaps the one place we visited where non-Chinese easily outnumbered Chinese. The performance itself was astonishing, with amazing feats of strength, grace, flexibility and courage.

I was concerned that Kelly might feel let down by having her birthday in the middle of a family vacation. Happily, she had a great day and enjoyed all of it. Technically, given the huge time difference, the actual anniversary of her birth would not take place until about 5 the next morning, but we decided we would let her have her day anyway. In our defense (should a defense have been needed), we could say we went to the ends of the earth for her birthday. We could not have gone any farther from home, but our delight in her, and her innate joy of family, we brought with us.